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Anthony Albanese FINALLY agrees to explain the details of the Indigenous Voice to Parliament with a single booklet to be mailed to all Australians
- Australians will receive pamphlets in the mail about Voice’s proposal
- The government gave in to the opposition’s demand
- Albanese has refused to fund the Yes and No campaigns
Anthony Albanese will send educational brochures explaining Indigenous Voice to Parliament to all Australian voters in a reverse concession to opposition leader Peter Dutton’s demands.
The federal government had previously said that pamphlets, such as those used in previous referendums, would not be required as MPs could reach voters through a variety of media formats, including television, email, and online. social.
The change in tone comes after Mr Dutton made a mailing detailing the Voice proposal, a key condition for the Coalition’s support of legislation needed to hold a referendum.
However, the government has yet to agree to another of Mr. Dutton’s demands: that the Yes and No campaigns get equal federal funding.
Anthony Albanese (pictured) agreed to send pamphlets to voters that will explain the details of Voice to Parliament
The backflip comes after the Prime Minister’s deputy minister, Patrick Gorman, rejected the need for any postage in December.
‘The next referendum will be the first in the digital age. Taxpayers no longer need to pay to have a pamphlet sent to every home,” he said in a press release at the time.
“Modern technology allows parliamentarians to express their views to voters directly and regularly through a wide variety of sources, including television, email and social media, which did not exist when the pamphlet was introduced. at the beginning of the 20th century”.
However, the government will now send leaflets outlining the cases for and against the Voice to Parliament in a bid to secure Opposition support for the legislation required to hold the referendum.
It is understood that Special Minister Don Farrell will be in charge of preparing the flyers.
Dutton said mailing informational brochures was a precedent that should be upheld.
“It was never tenable for the prime minister to tell the Australian people that he wanted them to vote in the referendum and then only make an argument for one side of the case,” he said.
“Frankly, it was quite arrogant of the Prime Minister to believe that he did not need to provide details to the Australian people.”
The opposition leader also argued that despite advances in modern technology, 40 percent of voters still read material sent to them during election campaigns.
It follows a series of demands from opposition leader Peter Dutton (pictured), who has also called for equal public funding for Yes and No campaigns.
The Voice bills itself as an advisory body that will advise the Australian Parliament and government on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander issues (pictured, dancers perform at the Garma Festival in north-east Arnhem Land)
Dutton is expected to reveal his party’s position in Voice next week, while the Nationals had already made their opposition to the proposal known last year.
The Greens pledged their support for the proposal on Monday following the defection of Aboriginal senator Lidia Thorpe, who wants a treaty with Aboriginal people before the Voice.
Australians will vote in a referendum in the second half of this year on whether to amend the constitution to create an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander body to provide advice to the federal parliament on policies that affect them.